Saturday, May 30, 2009

You may not see it the first time while you are walking around Boise's Depot and the adjacent Platt Gardens, but watching your steps and looking at the pavement in front of the old Union Pacific Depot, you will discover a mosaic of name tiles and locomotive tiles. A real locomotive, Big Mike—a Mikado-type steam locomotive built in 1920—stands not far away. An information board shows and explains other types of locomotives, the earliest from 1860. It is interesting to notice the gap between 1950's Portland Rose and the What's Ahead labeled future train. The last Amtrak passenger train rolled out of Boise on May 10, 1997. Now, the Boise Depot is a museum and background for weddings and receptions. When will it be that we can get around and away by train again? Until then, we hike and bike!